"Let's go take a short walk along the shore." He shook his head. "I have a better idea." "Oh, yeah, I'll just bet you do." He smiled, gave her flushed cheek a gentle stroke. "Will you do something for me instead?" At her quizzical look, he took her hand and walked her over to the grand piano that was shrouded with a drape of fabric. "Play for me, Claire." "Oh, I don't know..." she hedged, frowning as he removed the large square of cloth and unveiled the gleaming black Steinway. "It's been so long since I've played anything. I'm sure I'll be terrible. Besides, it's probably been years since this piano has been tuned." "Please," he said, refusing to be deterred. They would be leaving Newport in a matter of a couple of hours--as soon as he broke the news to her and called the Order to send a car--and he didn't know if this might be one of their last times together. Selfish or not, he wanted to wring out every last moment of this special night together. "Play whatever you wish. I'm not interested in perfection. I just want to hear your music again. For me." "For you," she replied, giving him a slow smile as she pulled out the little bench and sat down. "All right, but don't blame me when your ears start to bleed." He chuckled.
"I have no concern whatsoever. Play, Claire." She lifted the lid that protected the keys, then sighed thoughtfully as she brought her hands up to hover over them. From the very first notes, she mesmerized him. He didn't know the piece she played, but it was beautiful--haunting and sad, powerful. There was a heart breaking in every note, lyrical movement so deep and emotional, he could only stand there and let the music wash over him ... through him. As he watched her play the piece from memory, he felt the profundity of her own reaction to the music. She was living it as she played it, every stanza full of meaning. It was her own creation, he realized. The beautiful composition had come from Claire's own heart... her own soul. "You wrote that," he said softly as the final note trailed off. She looked up at him with shining eyes. "After you left, music was all I had for a while. I wrote several pieces, including this one. It just seemed to... I don't know... pour out of me in the first few weeks after you were gone." Reichen drifted closer to her, moved by the power of everything he was hearing and feeling when he was in this woman's presence. "It's incredible, Claire. You are incredible." He sat down beside her on the little bench. He gazed into her dark eyes, his fingers softly caressing the smooth perfection of her beautiful dusky brown skin. When he kissed her this time, it was not with searing hunger but with infinite care and reverence. He held her as if she were made of glass, worshipped her mouth as though it were the rarest delicacy. He loved her. If he had longed to deny it--even to himself--the truth was staring him full in the face now.
He loved this woman, even though she wasn't his. Even though he was not good enough for her, and never had been. If nothing else, Roth had been right about that all those years ago. "He knows about us," Claire blurted quietly as Reichen held her in his arms. "He knows we've been together--that I am with you now." It didn't shock him to hear it. Roth's blood bond with Claire would have betrayed her to him. But the little tremor of fear in her voice made Reichen's own blood seethe. "What happened? Did he do something to you?" "Last night, while we were making love, he let me know that he was aware of my infidelity to him. I don't know what he might have done, but his message of pain came through loud and clear to me." "You didn't tell me." Reichen drew her away from him and stared hard into her eyes. "Why did you keep that from me?" "Because there is nothing to be done about it, Andre." "Like hell there isn't," he gritted. "As soon as I know where that bastard is hiding, I will damned well do something about him." Claire winced, slowly shook her head. "I'm afraid of what he will do to you. He will kill you if he can. You have to know that. It's no stretch to assume that it was him who tried to kill you back in Hamburg all those years ago.
He was there at the Darkhaven after you and I argued. I was crying when I went inside. I told him what happened, how I wished more than anything that you wanted me for your mate. I told him everything, Andre. And the next thing I knew, you had disappeared. I didn't think about the fact that I went to him about you then, but now..." Reichen pulled her close and placed a kiss to the top of her head. "You didn't do anything wrong. I've felt all along that the assault on me was too personal and violent to be random. It might not even be centered entirely on us being together. But whether or not Roth had a hand in it doesn't matter, because the end result--the change that came over me in that field--is the thing that drove me away from you. It's the only thing that could have kept me away." She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything he's done to you. Your family your female friend in Berlin that he turned Minion... Oh, God, Andre. I'm so very sorry for all the pain you've endured."
Reichen hushed her, holding her close. "This is between Roth and me. None of the blame rests with you. What happened to me is insignificant. But my family deserves justice. So does Helene." Claire was silent for a long moment, then she asked gently, "Did you love her very much?" He thought about Helene and the strong bond of trust and understanding they'd shared. She was a remarkable woman who had been something more than just another of his long line of casual, noncommittal dalliances. It had nearly killed him to see her drained of her humanity, but no more than it had devastated him to have to be the one to finish her after Roth had left her an empty shell, her mind enslaved to carry out his evil bidding. "I cared for Helene deeply," he admitted. "I loved her as best as I was capable. But I wasn't able to give her my heart, because it was already lost to another." Claire drew out of his arms then and gazed up at him. "It's always been you, you know." He cupped her face in his palms. "I have been in love with you all along."